Shas­tri Boodan

Free­lance Con­trib­u­tor

The Cou­va Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee (CCC) is urg­ing the po­lice to al­low its 2026 fes­tiv­i­ties to run their full course.

Speak­ing as the com­mit­tee launched its 2026 sea­son at the Cou­va Joy­lan­ders Pan The­atre on Rail­way Road on Sat­ur­day, CCC chair­man Ram­c­hand Ra­jbal Maraj com­plained that of­fi­cers have de­vel­oped a habit of shut­ting down their an­nu­al Car­ni­val cel­e­bra­tions be­fore the sched­uled time.

“We need prop­er col­lab­o­ra­tion; we want a gen­uine part­ner­ship with law en­force­ment,” Maraj said.

He claimed that even when no in­ci­dents oc­cur, po­lice still “lock down the mas,” claim­ing they are ex­haust­ed af­ter work­ing for two days straight.

“This is un­fair to the mas­quer­aders,” Ra­jbal added, point­ing out that par­tic­i­pants in­vest sig­nif­i­cant time and mon­ey to bring the event to life.

He said the CCC has a bud­get of $480,000 for the 2026 Car­ni­val sea­son and stressed mas­quer­aders have been short-changed in pre­vi­ous years.

He al­so called for greater sup­port from the busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty.

Reg­is­tra­tion is on­go­ing, and he ex­pects 15 bands to cross the stage for J’Ou­vert and around 12 for the main mas pre­sen­ta­tion.

Dane Wall, of Wall Broth­ers Pro­mo­tion — win­ners of the 2024 and 2025 J’Ou­vert cel­e­bra­tions — said their 2026 por­tray­al will be Maljoo J’Ou­vert, a blue-dev­il-themed band. He said they are aim­ing for a hat-trick vic­to­ry and ex­pects to field around 900 par­tic­i­pants.